VIDEO: The best of Canucks sports reporter Jason Botchford

Jason Botchford carried with him a tremendous passion for the game of hockey and for the Vancouver Canucks. He gained popularity while working for The Province in Vancouver, and then most recently moved to The Athletic website.

Botchford, who died last weekend at the age of 48, was widely known for his Canucks post-game reports, first called “The Provies,” then “The Athletties.” His reporting provided edgy, insightful commentary and a unique, zany approach.

In one of his more popular stories this year, “How Elias Pettersson changed everything in Vancouver,” he wrote, “It’s with guys like [Pettersson] that allows a city to dream of better days, too.”

Biggest take

Botchford was critical of underperforming players, and rightfully so. Former defenceman Erik Gudbranson controlled 38 per cent of scoring chances at 5-on-5 while on the ice, the lowest ratio in the entire league for defencemen.

,@botchford on Gudbranson: Derrick Pouliot got mauled all game. All game. And you know what his pairing partner did? Nothing. There was no, there's a bad mofo, that's a nasty guy, that's a big hit, there was nothing. When you add in the passes into skates, and the icings….

Botchford bestowed cutting, yet humourous nicknames. He described the current highest-paid Canuck, Loui Eriksson, as “Little Things.” (He said the Swede did the little things right on the ice, but did not warrant his $6-million salary cap hit).

The first Canucks game in which Eriksson was listed as a healthy scratch, he tweeted:

Botchford’s pre-game piece from 2013 about the San Jose Sharks and the Canucks is arguably his most controversial. He describes a situation where Sharks forward Joe Thornton explains to the media how he would celebrate scoring four goals. [Warning:

Gutted like everyone today. Botch and I were rivals on this medium, but friends behind scenes, as most figured out. An unspeakable loss to his friends and family, to this market & Canadian sports media. Unique, creative, passionate, entertaining. We'll miss him a lot. #RIPBotch

After the Canucks failed to reach the post-season in 2018, Botchford was famously quoted for saying Vancouver’s slogan should be “We need an army!” He was lamenting the inability of management to acquire better players, prospects and draft picks at the time.

.@botchford: You need an army. That should be the slogan for the #canucks. We need an army! Let's go. We need picks, we need players, we need prospects, players, defensemen, everything. And Dahlin is nice, but he doesn't get you there next year or the year after

In January, Botchford, along with TSN 1040 reporters Mike Halford and Jason Brough and others, presented a “Live Power Hour” for fans at the Rio Theatre in Vancouver and get into a lively discussion about their beloved hockey team.

There are hundreds of Botchford pieces to choose from, and he always seemed to have saved his best for last. Botchford had perfected his “listicle” style of post-game reporting. His ‘The Provies’ post-game report after the final game for Daniel and Henrik Sedin was a fond farewell to two of the all-time greatest Canucks. He described them as “two superstars doing what only superstars can do… They blew your freaking mind.”